Softball Travels North to Play NKU on Wednesday

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a 3-0 weekend at John Cropp Stadium sweeping the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks to improve to 8-0 at home in 2017, the No. 16 Kentucky softball team will travel north to Highlands Heights, Kentucky on Wednesday for a midweek test with the Northern Kentucky Norse. The game will start at 4 p.m. ET from the Frank I. Grein Softball Complex.

The Wildcats moved up four spots to No. 15 in Monday’s release of the NCAA RPI, after a three-game sweep of the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks. Kentucky has now swept three of its last six Southeastern Conference series dating back to 2016, and four of its last eight. The offense came alive for UK in game two, scoring an SEC-high seven runs, including multi-RBI games from freshman Alex Martens and sophomore Abbey Cheek. 

In the circle, all four of UK’s pitchers saw time, with Meagan Prince getting a complete-game win in game one, holding the Arkansas offense to just four hits – and coming on to get the close in game three to cap off the series sweep.

For their efforts this weekend, Kentucky jumped up to No. 16 in both the NFCA Coaches’ poll and the USA Softball/ESPN.com media poll. The No. 16 ranking for the Wildcats is a season-high mark. 

Northern Kentucky enters the week with a 6-19 record, including a 1-4 mark in homes games this season. The Norse, like UK, started conference play this past weekend, picking up a win over Valpo in a three-game series. NKU has a staff ERA of 7.42 and is led in the circle by Taylor Ginther, who has thrown 21 innings this season with a 5.06 ERA. Ashlynn Roberts leads NKU with 61.0 innings in the circle and has a 5.90 ERA with a 2-7 record. Offensively, NKU is hitting at a .245 clip, paced by Paige McQueen, who is hitting .338 with a home run and 10 RBI.

Wednesday will be the second all-time meeting between UK and NKU. Last year’s meeting at John Cropp Stadium was the first between the two sides, as Meagan Prince no-hit the Norse en route to a 9-0 win thanks to Breanne Ray’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to end the game. 

For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.